Sorry, but you are wrong. I have worked for 3 cable companies and Charter's DCT's support external expandable hdd storage via firewire. It's all about whether the system that you are serviced by has requested the feature in the STB firmware from Motorola. And as a previous poster stated, the video is easily separated to video / audio / time and reencoded in your format of choice.

Ok NetFryer, how do you do it??? I have Charter service with a DCT6400 Phase III (Firmware v12.35 and software v73.50).

I hooked up an external firwire and no additional space was gained. The motorola manual (not cable company) even states the IEEE are output only.

I'm not saying you are wrong, I just want to know how you do this? I'm thinking of getting a SATA enclosure and trying that port as the moto manual states this is used for external storage.

Anyone with similar equipment have any suggestions... (the other posts on this subject are no good for my setup).

hi, i'm a noob and i was wondering if once I get on to the settings of the box and the ethernet, firewire and usb say enabled does this means that dat transfer is possible thru any of thise ports? , btw i have a DCT6416III

i was wondering if anybody else has gotten info on transfering the already recorded files to a separate harddrive on pc or laptop? I have succesfully been able to record live tv. But I'm asking as I see others have asked about moving files. Is there no software or program out there hat lets you get into the harddrive of a motorola dct-6416 phase III?

i was wondering if anybody else has gotten info on transfering the already recorded files to a separate harddrive on pc or laptop? I have succesfully been able to record live tv. But I'm asking as I see others have asked about moving files. Is there no software or program out there hat lets you get into the harddrive of a motorola dct-6416 phase III?

That's correct, you cannot. There are no file transfers of any kind with the Motorola boxes. The recordings on the hard drive are encrypted.

The most you can do is record in realtime using Firewire or the analog outs.

If you want to transfer files to your computer, take a look at the $299 TivoHD this fall once the software update is released supporting TivoToGo. TivoToGo is the Tivo feature that allows you to copy digital recordings to a computer for burning to DVD and/or transcoding for a portable music player.

You know what would be really slick? If we could get Linux to run on the device we could use Xen to virtualize the hardware and run the original OS under a domU. Comcast or anyone else would have no way to know that the OS on the box is actually being virtualized. Then when we wanted to transfer the files from the disk we could pause dom1, mount partion 3 of the disk, transfer the files, unmount the partion, and resume dom1. Of course all that could be automated and controlled through an ssh connection to dom0 on the cable box. Imagine that, turning your cable box into a full blown computer without affecting its current operation features. What architecture does it use? ARM?

You know what would be really slick? If we could get Linux to run on the device we could use Xen to virtualize the hardware and run the original OS under a domU. Comcast or anyone else would have no way to know that the OS on the box is actually being virtualized. Then when we wanted to transfer the files from the disk we could pause dom1, mount partion 3 of the disk, transfer the files, unmount the partion, and resume dom1. Of course all that could be automated and controlled through an ssh connection to dom0 on the cable box. Imagine that, turning your cable box into a full blown computer without affecting its current operation features. What architecture does it use? ARM?

The Motorola DVRs are based on the Broadcom BCM7038, which has an integrated 300MHz MIPS CPU.

If you have a minidv camcorder you can use s-video out from the stb (and normal analog rca audio out) to connect to your camcorder, then connect the camcorder to your Mac using 4-6 pin firewire, and capture with the "capture now" function in Final Cut Pro. You can then export to whatever file format you choose, burn to DVD, etc.

I have the same model, with a built-in 120GB or 160GB HDD (I'm not quite sure which size it is), but the bottom line is that for recording HDTV material, this amount of space is simply NOT ENOUGH! You might be able to record a half-dozen one hour programs in HDTV and you've pretty well used up the whole space. In fact, I've thought many times to switch to the Satellite HD receiver which has a 500GB HDD so is much more reasonable for using with HDTV.

I don't even care if I can transfer video from the HDD. In fact, I would think that this would be against the copyright laws if I did, or at least of questionable legality. All I want to do is to increase my HDD space so that the newer videos don't keep erasing my older videos before I even have a chance to watch them!?!

If anyone has had any success with attaching a firewire drive to the unit, could you please tell me what FORMAT the HDD would have to be in so as to communicate with the Motorola unit? Is it FAT32? NTFS? or some other format?

Easiest way for non-technical types to get program off Motorola box and on computer is with a DVDR (costs about a hundred bucks). Connect input on DVDR to an output on Motorola box. Buy some DVD's and put one in the DVDR. Push play on Motorola box, record on DVDR, then put DVD into computer and use ripping software to turn it into MP4(usable on IPOD or any other player). Simple, easy, cheap and infinitely repeatable. With this method, you can put anything from your tv onto your computer. Yes, it's 1:1 - but it's better than reading all these posts and getting nowhere.

It was easy to add an extra hard drive to my Tivo 2, there was a faq and some software.. Is there anything like this for the DCT6400 Phase III? I am amazed that we can't just plug in another drive.

I take it you mean the DCT6416 or DCT6412. But the answer is no, you cannot expand capacity at this time. The built-in firmware supports a maximum of 160Gb (internal) and does not support external drives.

If you want more capacity you'll have to buy another box like a TivoHD.

Easiest way for non-technical types to get program off Motorola box and on computer is with a DVDR (costs about a hundred bucks). Connect input on DVDR to an output on Motorola box. Buy some DVD's and put one in the DVDR. Push play on Motorola box, record on DVDR, then put DVD into computer and use ripping software to turn it into MP4(usable on IPOD or any other player). Simple, easy, cheap and infinitely repeatable. With this method, you can put anything from your tv onto your computer. Yes, it's 1:1 - but it's better than reading all these posts and getting nowhere.

That would be fine for SD programming, but I view mostly HDTV programming, and your solution wouldn't work for that.

i was wondering if anybody else has gotten info on transfering the already recorded files to a separate harddrive on pc or laptop? I have succesfully been able to record live tv. But I'm asking as I see others have asked about moving files. Is there no software or program out there hat lets you get into the harddrive of a motorola dct-6416 phase III?

I know this post is a bt old but until my Vista Cable Card PC shows up, I thought I would keep putzing with the disk on the Moto 6416 to see if I can crack this nut.

You CAN make a full copy of the disk onto another one and then use that new one in the DVR.

Simply hook both drives to a PC running Linux and use the 'dd' command to copy the 3 Gbyte Partition (holds your scheduled program info,pointters to the recorderd files,etc.) to the other disk.

Repeat for the second parition which has the actual shows.

If you put this cloned disk into the 6416, it will work as though it had the original disk in it. Ie. The recordings are all there as well as your season passes.

Hi Joe, did you do this with a larger hard drive? I want to pull the hard drive out of the 6412, copy it to a larger hard drive with Linux and put that in the 6412 to have more storage space.

Somewhere in thjis thread, I had a deltailed answer about what the disc structure looked like,etc.

I have tried to create my own large disc and the Moto box redoes my parition tables.

Botom line is: Until Motorola allows it in a new firmware, users of this thing are stuck at 160 Gbyte.

I threw in the towel.

I have been running a VISTA MCE based DVR with 2 ATI Occur tuners for ahout 2 weeks.

I started the PC off with a 1 TB RAID but I can add more disk space anytime I feel like it.

While the copy protection that is imposed is a royal pain, I like this system better than even my TIVO.
It seems as though MSFT thought of everything that one would need in a DVR and with the exception of no Watchlists,it has more features than a TIVO.

If you have the money (rather high cost to get into this game), look into what is going on with VISTA and Cable Card PC's to use as a DVR (and a LOT more)

Now that I have been using this system smoothly for two weeks, I am giving Verizon back my Moto DVR.

Somewhere in thjis thread, I had a deltailed answer about what the disc structure looked like,etc.

I have tried to create my own large disc and the Moto box redoes my parition tables.

Botom line is: Until Motorola allows it in a new firmware, users of this thing are stuck at 160 Gbyte.

I threw in the towel.

I have been running a VISTA MCE based DVR with 2 ATI Occur tuners for ahout 2 weeks.

I started the PC off with a 1 TB RAID but I can add more disk space anytime I feel like it.

While the copy protection that is imposed is a royal pain, I like this system better than even my TIVO.
It seems as though MSFT thought of everything that one would need in a DVR and with the exception of no Watchlists,it has more features than a TIVO.

If you have the money (rather high cost to get into this game), look into what is going on with VISTA and Cable Card PC's to use as a DVR (and a LOT more)

Now that I have been using this system smoothly for two weeks, I am giving Verizon back my Moto DVR.

For those of you who are still actually reading this thread, I tried to hook up a Firewire hard drive to the DCT (60GB formatted in FAT32) and nothing happened. It was like I didn't do anything at all, because the DCT made no indication whatsoever that there was a hardware device attached to it.

Unfortunately, for those of us in Canada, TIVO is not even an option, as it isn't supported by any of the cable or satellite providers.

For those of you who are still actually reading this thread, I tried to hook up a Firewire hard drive to the DCT (60GB formatted in FAT32) and nothing happened. It was like I didn't do anything at all, because the DCT made no indication whatsoever that there was a hardware device attached to it.

Unfortunately, for those of us in Canada, TIVO is not even an option, as it isn't supported by any of the cable or satellite providers.

The firewire port on the DCT is active but can only be used 2 ways.

The first use of that port is as a Firewire interface to a PC if you have the proper device driver (Which XP and Vista have. Not sure about Linux)

Unfortunately, The Firewire interface to a PC is rather limited in it's usefulness because if the 5C flag is set ie. the channel is encrypted, you will get a recording on your disk of a bunch of 1's and 0's with no way to de-crypt them.

I have Verizon FIOS in Maryland and here is what I have learned:
The channel numbers of 4 through 49 are the Analog channels and they are NOT encrypted.
The channel numbers of 801 through 814 are the Digital local channels (CBS,NBC,etc.) from Washington D.C and Baltimore are NOT encrypted.
I guess they goofed because NGCHD,MTVHD,FOODHD,HGTV are also NOT encrypted but the Washington FOX Digital station IS encrypted(Data valid as of May,2007 when I tested)

There are also something like 40 Music stations that are NOT encrypted.

A reminder - I can record EVERY channel via firewire but unless it is an un-encrypted channel,the file is not playable because of the 'scrambled' data.

All I care about is digital/High Definition so I am able to record the digital LOCAL stations via Firewire as well as those 4 'premium' stations.

EDIT:
This just occurred to me: I must admit that since I got rid of that 6412 in September and got a Cable Card PC that IS my 1.5 TB disk DVR, I have forgotten one other thing that I believe you can do with that Firewire to PC interface.

I recall that I could playback an existing recording from the 6416 and record that as it played back over the firewire interface to my PC's disk.

I will have to search through my posts to verify because when I swtched from Directv to Fios in May,2007 , I did make a lot of posts about this whole Firewire business/

The second use for that firewire port is for connection to a D-VHS recorder.
I have a JVC HM-DH40000U D-VHS deck.
Since it is fully 5C compliant, I can record ANY channel so long as the 5C flag is not set to 'copy never'

In MY case, I never found any station that Verizon had set that flag to 'copy never' so I could record EVERY channel.

It has been speculated that on the Model 6416 HD DVR,which I had, the flag could never be set to 'copy never' as that would prevent the SW from being able to record to the DVR's disk because the SW must be fully 5C compliant.
In other words, if one uses a DVR, due to the nature of the 5C rules, you can record any station to a 5C compliant D-VHS deck

Something different to consider

If you do not want to go the D-VHS route, for $90, you can make yourself a DVR that will record any unencrypted channels.
In the Verizon case and from what I have read, i am sure it is the same with Comcast and others, this '$90 DVR' would be a Local channel only DVR.

This would allow you to dedicate your 6412 to recording the premium content and use the '$90 DVR' for recording the network content.

This is what I have done.
First get a Hauppage HVR-1600 (submodel # 74021) for around $90 and put it in your PC that is connected to your HDTV.
Then put a splitter that you can get from Radio Shack for a few dollars on your cable and connect the 6412 and the HVR-1600 to it.

Somewhere in thjis thread, I had a deltailed answer about what the disc structure looked like,etc.

I have tried to create my own large disc and the Moto box redoes my parition tables.

Botom line is: Until Motorola allows it in a new firmware, users of this thing are stuck at 160 Gbyte.

I threw in the towel.

I have been running a VISTA MCE based DVR with 2 ATI Occur tuners for ahout 2 weeks.

I started the PC off with a 1 TB RAID but I can add more disk space anytime I feel like it.

While the copy protection that is imposed is a royal pain, I like this system better than even my TIVO.
It seems as though MSFT thought of everything that one would need in a DVR and with the exception of no Watchlists,it has more features than a TIVO.

If you have the money (rather high cost to get into this game), look into what is going on with VISTA and Cable Card PC's to use as a DVR (and a LOT more)

Now that I have been using this system smoothly for two weeks, I am giving Verizon back my Moto DVR.

Bye

The best way to record any unencrypted HD Cable Channel (Usually The Regular Local Broadcasters) is with a device by an outfit named Silicon Dust. The item is what they call a HomeRunHD. It has two inputs and it outputs over TCP/IP on your home network. It is the only box that works with Snap Stream Beyond TV too. Unit cost is $150 to $165

A cheaper alternative is a MyHD card. It also does Open QAM but not with Beyond TV.

Try renaming any TP type file to MPG and see if it will work on your PC. MYHD cards use a tp extension so do HomeRunHD

No one has talked about the SATA port on the DCT6412III. Any expandability there? The only way I have captured encrypted HD and SD is through the Blackmagic Pro Multibridge. I think a complete firmware overhaul is in order for this box. If Motorola won't do it, someone else should.